Variety of Ways for Peers to Give Feedback to Fellow Student Writers
Peer reviews are a natural in composition classes. Students give each other great writing ideas that sometimes instructors have a more difficult time communicating. There are a variety of ways to conduct writing peer reviews, and some of those ways are described below. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, and some ways are more complicated than others, but each approach is helpful in its own way.

General Peer Reviews
Peer reviews can actually be very simple, and sometimes it's best to conduct them this way for teachers who don't have a lot of experience running them or for students who have never participated in them. Basically, instructors simply tell their class that each student will read essays of two peers and give them feedback. No specific instruction need be given, save that students should be respectful of and honest with one another. The instructor can spend the period walking among the class and helping students as needed.

Peer Review Mini Groups
Mini groups work in much the same way as the general peer reviews above, except that the class is divided into groups of three or four students. Each group is responsible for giving feedback to each member of his group. This type of review tends to be effective, because the group generally tends to bond and work well together. Sometimes an instructor can have the group work together throughout the semester.

Specific Questions Written on Essays Help the Students Guide Their Own Reviews
Sometimes students have specific questions about their papers. Some students worry more about their spelling than the flow of their papers, while other students want to be sure their papers make sense and have no questions about their punctuation. A lot of times students prefer to have some say in their peer reviews, and this is one way to give that power to students.

It works this way: At the beginning of the session, the instructor tells the students to write two or three questions on their papers that they would like their peers to answer. The writers have an opportunity to think back on past essays and ask their fellow students to scrutinize their work through the lens of their questions. Many students appreciate this opportunity; the writers feel empowered to guide feedback about their papers, while readers put on an "expert's cap" to critique their peers' work.

Paper Writing - Reader to Writer
More advanced classes call for a more complicated, more sophisticated type of peer review. Students are required to write a "mini paper" in response to the paper they read. This type of feedback is perfect for the composition classroom, because students say "write my college essay" or get to practice more writing, and they have a definite goal with this assignment. They must communicate clearly and effectively.

Some classes are not ready for this type of freedom when it comes to peer reviews, and usually these types of sessions are best run later in the semester when students feel more confident about their writing.

The Questionnaire Approach to Peer Reviews
Questionnaires work well with freshmen, shy students, and writers who don't feel confident about their "authority" in giving feedback. When students don't feel sure about what instructors want, they don't feel that they can "tell" other students how to improve their papers. Instructors can take the fear out of peer reviews by giving students questionnaires to fill out after reading another student's paper. The beauty of this approach is that the professor can tailor the questionnaire to each class. Some sample questions are as follows:

• Were there any places in the essay that confused you or that could be explained better? Where were they?
• After reading the introduction to the essay, what did you expect to come next in the paper? Were your expectations met? If so, what do you think the writer did effectively? If not, what do you think he could do to prepare the reader better?
• Did each paragraph flow smoothly into the next? If not, specify an area in the paper that could use some work. What made the section feel choppy?

Self-Evaluation Peer Reviews
Sometimes the most difficult, yet the most productive, feedback is the critique a student gives herself. Basically, the instructor does the questionnaire approach but has a student ask herself the questions. Sample questions for this type of review follow:

• What is your thesis?
• What is the biggest strength in your paper?
• What is the weakest point in your paper? How do you think you can improve it?
• If this paper were your final draft, what grade would you give yourself?

Peer Reviews are an Effective Classroom Tool
Peer reviews can work well in any class, but writing classes can benefit immensely. While not all types of peer reviews will work in all classes, there is bound to be at least one type of peer review an instructor will feel comfortable having her class undergo. These type of sessions are beneficial for students, both as readers and writers.